Life Without Manipulation
by Thundermaker
Summary: With the help of Marlene Mckinnon, Harry gets what he always wanted. His Freedom. Powerful-Indipendent Harry, Manipulative Dumbledore, Weasley Bashing


Chapter 1

My name is Harry Potter. But nobody calls me with my name. Sometimes they call me a liar or arrogant and other times they call me **"The Boy Who Lived** " or with my new nickname **"The Chosen One** ". Pffft... To them, I am nothing but a tool. Fortunately, there are some people who care about me. I can trust them and I know that they would do anything in their power to protect me. Probably you are wondering in which category Dumbledore and Ron are. The answer is clear: The ones who used me. Dumbledore's only goal is the end of Voldemort and he doesn't even care about the cost. Other than that, he kept me in the dark for 5 years and I am still doubtful that he told me everything. For Ron it's hard to explain. It's mostly instincts. If you asked me the same question at the beginning of the 4. year I would say, Ron is my brother that I never had. But after I saw his jealousy, I am pretty sure that he began this friendship in order to gain power, money and influence. Now you are probably very confused and thinking when I began to make these judgements. It's probably wise to start from the beginning...

|||Astronomy Tower ||| End Of The 5. Year |||

I was sitting at the top of the Astronomy Tower. It was only three days after the battle which happened at the Ministry of Magic and I was feeling rather hopeless. I was blaming myself because of the Sirius's death. But my thoughts were interrupted with a black phoenix. This phoenix was beautiful, had black and white feathers and there was a thick envelope attached to his leg. I took the envelope and opened it.

 _ **Dear Harry,**_

 _ **If you are reading this letter than it means that I am dead and I hope that I took as many Death Eaters as possible with me. I charmed this letter so that it will arrive to you three days after my death. Anyway the main reason of this letter is to warn you. I know you believe in Dumbledore and think that he knows better than most of us. Unfortunately, it's not true. You may ask why did I fight at his side. The answer is simple: Because of my friends. Remus, Lily and James all believed in Dumbledore. But they all had their reasons. For Remus, it was his furry little problem. Dumbledore allowed him to go to Hogwarts and now gives him small jobs to help him gain some money. For Lily it was his blood status. When we were children the pureblood laws were more strict. For example muggleborns couldn't be prefects, Head Boys or Head Girls. But Dumbledore allowed Lily to be a prefect and Head Girl. And for James it was his gratitude. James's parent were killed when he was 5 years old and since then Dumbledore looked after him. Probably you are thinking right now that where the problem is. If you want the answer you should look more objective. Dumbledore helped Remus right after Voldemort formed an alliance with werewolves. I think his goal was raise a civilised and a grateful werewolf so that he could spy on werewolves and maybe convice them not to fight against the "light". Also, Voldemort had a lot soldiers in his side, but Dumbledore hadn't. Because of that, he needed all muggleborns in his side and was afraid that they would abandon the wizarding world because of the blood purists. So he helped to the muggleborns as best as he could and gained their respect and gratitude. And he helped James because of his money. Before you went into hiding James told me that Dumbledore took at least 10 million galleons from the Potter vaults and he was thinking what to do about it, but as you know he didn't have enough time to do anything about it. As you can see there are lots of reasons not to trust him so I wanted to make sure that he wasn't stealing anything from you except your freedom. So I went to Grinngotts. Before you panic goblins don't care if you are a criminal or not. Anyway, I had a meeting with your family goblin and he said that in past years someone took at least 20 million galleons from your vault. I asked him if they are sending you the status of your account monthly and he said that they are sending it to your magical guardian. So I asked some favours in Ministry and learned that Dumbledore your magical guardian is. If you don't believe me than all the documents are in the envelope. As you can see, you shouldn't trust him. So I had some meetings with one of my friends. She is also your godmother and she will meet you at Kings Cross Station. Also, you shouldn't send any important letter with Hedwig. I learned from Hagrid that Dumbledore raised Hedwig so any letter you send goes to Dumbledore. Because of that, I leave you Ignite, my phoenix. He serves to the Head of Black House and lives in the Black Manor which resides in France. Also, I left Black fortune to you. But don't have any heart attack only you and the ones that you allow can enter to these vaults and houses. Anyway, take care of yourself and don't you dare to come this side unless you are 100 years old.**_

 _ **Love, Padfoot**_

||| Hogwarts Express ||| 21 June 1996 Friday |||

"... Harry, are you listening to me?"

"Sorry Hermione, what were you saying?"

"I was asking what were you going to do at summer."

"I will probably stay at the Dursleys and do nothing."

"Harry you should find something to do. You can't only sit and do nothing."

"I will find something to do Hermione, satisfied?"

"Fine. I will be patrolling with Ron. See you later."

With that Hermione left the compartment. It was like this recently. Hermione would try to talk to me and I wouldn't listen and try to find a solution to my current problem. The first thing I did after Sirius's letter was to contact with my family goblin. I managed to arrange an appointment with him on 24 June. Now I was going to meet my godmother and I had lots of questions in my head. For example, who is she, why didn't she ever try to contact me or why is she trying to help me now. She could have taken me from the Dursleys and maybe I could have a normal childhood.

Anyway, we will wait and see...

||| Platform 9¾ ||| 21 June 1996 Friday

The first thing I saw when I walked out of the train was Mrs. Weasley, Bill, Fred and George. I talked with them for a while and said goodbye to them in order to find my godmother. In letter, Sirius said that she would meet me in Kings Cross so I passed through the barrier. When I looked around I saw a blonde woman with blue eyes. She was in her thirties and very beautiful. She smiled, held out her hand and said:

"Hello Harry. My name is Marlene Mckinnon."

"What? Mckinnon? B..but h..how? Hagrid told me that entire Mckinnon family was killed by Voldemort."

"Not entire family. I managed to escape, but my parents, my brother and his wife were killed. Also, I had severe injuries so I fled to France. Only Dumbledore, Sirius, James and Lily knew that I was alive."

"Really. Anyway, before we continue I want you to tell me everything you know about Sirius. I want to make sure that you are not an imposter. I can't take the risk."

"Fair enough. Sirius was an animagus, his nickname was Padfoot, and he was one of the founders of the Marauder's Map. He loved pranks and he was always a child in a man's body. He was not responsible for your parents death and escaped from Azkaban as a dog. He was also a womanizer and probably slept with the entire girl population in Hogwarts. Besides, I was his girlfriend for 2 years. In addition to all of this his wand was 19 cm long and he loved when you stroked it and ..."

"ENOUGH... Okay, I'm satisfied, but you didn't have to tell me about the last part."

"What! Don't blame me. You are the one who wanted to know everything about Sirius."

"Yes, but I didn't want to know how long his penis was."

"Then ask your questions more carefully. Anyway, you probably have lots of questions, but unfortunately we don't have enough time. Dursleys will come shortly, so I will give you this bag to you, don't open this bag until you are in private. Okay?"

"Okay. I hope I will see you again."

"Don't worry, you definitely will."

With that, she left. I waited several minutes and Dursleys came. Uncle Vernon asked:

"Are you ready boy? I want to leave here before one of your freak friends come here. Okay?"

"Okay, Uncle Vernon."

A car trip with Dursleys. Yuppie, the best way to begin summer holiday.


End file.
